


Bring to a Boil

by lil_fubsy



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Divergence, Consensual Underage Sex, Gen, M/M, Ninja War, Past, Past Relationship(s), Present to Past, Some torture but not too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-11-03 21:08:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20659187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_fubsy/pseuds/lil_fubsy
Summary: Sasori tells Deidara about an encounter he had with a certain Jinchūriki during the Third Great Ninja War.





	Bring to a Boil

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I don't even remember how, why, or when I came up with this Han x Sasori thing. I think I was, like, challenging myself to find someone to pair Sasori with and coming up with a story that makes sense? And I came across this fact that was that both Han and Sasori were renowned for their efforts during the war, and I was like, "Hey, wouldn't it be interesting if Han and Sasori met each other during the war?" And I kind of fell in love instantly because they're so odd together. And this idea was the first idea I ever had with them, with a few minor changes. So here it is! A self indulgent fanfic that's apparently some of my best work (according to my sister). Enjoy!

“Ugh, I can’t believe we failed another mission, hm!” Deidara complained as he fell backwards onto the hotel bed. Sasori was close behind, though he had no reason to repeat the action that his partner had performed.

“The only reason why we failed was because you decided to plaster your _art _all over the target’s walls.” At the accusation, Deidara immediately flung himself up in defense. 

“Hey, that explosion was beautiful! Our customer was in complete awe!” Deidara continued to sit on the bed with his arms held out wide to accentuate the grandness of his art, while Sasori, after removing his cloak, sat on the floor in front of the bed to start repairing his damaged puppets. 

“No, our customer was staring in mortification because the house that you exploded was actually his and _our job _was to exterminate the people that stole it from him.” Deidara _tsked _at the red-head’s statement and fell back onto the bed with his hands behind his head.

“Whatever. It was a masterpiece!”

“Sure. A masterpiece that costed us our paycheck.” Sasori spitefully stated. 

Later on in the day, as the sky began to turn a darker shade of blue, a storm engulfed the surrounding area. Deidara, who had cleaned up since the time they arrived, stared out the window, watching the rain pour, as he brushed his dampened hair. He then looked over to Sasori, who was in the same place as before doing repairs on himself. 

“You got hurt, danna?” He asked as simple commentary. He watched as Sasori pulled out a scalpel and began to carefully dissect his torso area. A mirror was in front of him as he did his work.

“Not hurt. Just damaged.” He worked slowly and precisely. Seemingly unaffected by the image of him cutting into himself. Deidara shivered.

“How’d that happen?” He asked, throwing the brush to the side. “You were in that one puppet the entire time during the fight.” Sasori put the scalpel down in replacement for a pair of medical tweezers. 

“Hiruko’s outer layer was damaged during the fight. So much so that pieces were splintering off on the inside as well. The material that I made Hiruko out of was impaling me in certain spots. I’m simply repairing what was left from that.” Deidara could see what _remnants _had been left from that. There was a gash in his right arm that revealed the metal rod underneath, a gash in his neck that looked to have already been repaired, and now Sasori was working on, well, the inner workings of himself. 

“What are you doing messing with that thing? What do you call it, a core? Hm.” 

“I seem to have a minor myocardial contusion around the pulmonary veins and mitral valve. I’m performing necessary procedures to determine if surgery is necessary.”

“English please, hm.” Deidara said as he grabbed an apple from seemingly no where. Sasori visibly rolled his eyes.

“My heart is bruising. If it’s too severe, I’ll need to perform surgery.” Deidara hummed in recognition, finally being able to understand what his partner said. 

“What will you have to do if it is?” He asked with a mouthful of the fruit.

“Worst case scenario: I have to repair the blood vessels and drain excess blood from the heart.” He explained. “However, my injury won’t need that as of now. It should heal on its own in due time. Though, I’ll have to be careful with it for about a month.” Deidara then watched as Sasori repaired the rest of himself. The storm was at its peak, the sun had diminished behind the horizon line, and Deidara was left with nothing else to do. It took Sasori hours to properly fix himself. Before long, Deidara was left just staring up at the ceiling, and it wasn’t even ten o’ clock!

Deidara looked over lazily at his partner who was still finding contentment in working on his puppets. They looked fine to Deidara, but he supposed that there were never enough improvements to be made in the puppet master’s eyes. The blonde rolled over on his side so that his body was facing the back of Sasori.

“Danna, we should do something, hm!” He proclaimed, boredom evident in his voice.

“Like what, Deidara?” Sasori inquired back, not even turning to face him.

“I don’t know! I’m just bored, hm!” 

“You’re such a child.” Deidara groaned loudly, annoying the older of the two, and went back to staring up at the ceiling. After a minute or two, he even grew tired of that and turned to face the windows. The rain fell hard, lightning struck, and the thunder was booming. It was beautiful, even though the roads were going to be flooded by tomorrow. As Deidara gazed at the conditions outside, a sudden thought came to mind.

“You know, back in the village, during a storm like this, we would always sit as close as we could to the storm and tell stories.” 

“Who would?” Sasori asked only to fulfill Deidara’s need for attention, still working on a puppet. 

“We would. My team and I.” A snicker escaped Deidara mouth. “It was always on stupid things like who liked who, or who did this and that. Kurotsuchi was usually the one to bring it up, hm.” 

“Aha.” Sasori acknowledged unenthusiastically. He reached over for a small pair of scissors and started tweaking the inside of his favorite puppet’s mouth. He wanted to adjust the hinges of the mandible to make sure it was still moving fluidly. He had to be delicate with this. He had no intention of ruining his prized possession.

“I KNOW!” At Deidara’s outburst, Sasori jumped, startled, and the scissors rammed into the wood of the puppet. A visible mark was left. Sasori scowled, throwing the scissors down and clenching his fists. He turned to Deidara, unarguably furious. The nineteen year old hardly seemed to notice Sasori’s anger. “You should tell me a story danna, hm!” Deidara looked as if he had a great idea, but Sasori was not amused.

“You damaged the most valuable puppet I have to tell me that I should tell you a story?” 

“What? I didn’t touch your puppets!” Sasori pointed to the mark on his Third Kazekage puppet to prove his point. Deidara shrugged it off. “Oh, come on, danna! It’s in the mouth! No one’s going to notice! You’re such a perfectionist, hm!” Sasori turned over his shoulder to start repairing the cut in the wood.

“Whatever. Just refrain from doing another outburst. And lower your voice, Deidara.” Sasori scolded. Deidara shrugged, adjusting his seating on the bed.

“Alright, whatever, hm.” While Sasori started working on his puppet, Deidara stared, expecting something.

“Hey, Sasori-danna.” He called out, keeping his voice at a moderate level.

“What, Deidara?” Sasori sighed. He felt as if he were dealing with a child. 

“Do you even remember what I said?”

“Of course I do. Who do you take me for?” 

“Well then, you should tell me a story, hm!”

“I will do no such thing.”

“Oh, come on!” Deidara was growing impatient, which was surprising for him considering that Sasori was the most impatient person he knew, and he never kept people waiting long. It was a part of his character. He must really be pestering him right now. “We’re done our work for today, we won’t be leaving until tomorrow morning, and you don’t sleep anyway! You always sit there and do the same damn thing, do something different for once. Plus, I’m so incredibly bored right now! Please, danna!” Deidara kept pleading into Sasori’s ears until Sasori groaned, defeated. He turned to Deidara with an irritated expression.

“If I entertain you, will you stop pestering me?” At his question, Deidara pressed his hands together and made the worst possible puppy dog eyes. A trait unfitting for rogue ninja. Sasori groaned.

“Fine.” Sasori packed up his materials and twisted his body around fully so that he was facing Deidara. The younger had the brightest, most self-achieved smile plastered on his face. Sasori was beginning to regret his decision. “Alright,” Sasori said. “You have my attention. Now, what do you want?” 

“I already told you,” Deidara started, adjusting his position once again. “You should tell me a story, hm.”

“If you want me to come up with some fictional bedtime story, I’m not very _creative_ in that sense.” His mocking tone was evident, very much treating Deidara like a child. The other chose to ignore it. He waved off Sasori’s sarcastic statement.

“No, no, nothing like that.” He gazed at the older expectantly, mischievously, and the red-head cocked an eyebrow, curious about Deidara’s choice of expression towards himself. “You remember when I said that on nights like these, when there’s a thunderstorm and there’s nothing else to do, my team and I would tell stories to each other? And those stories consisted of petty things like crushes and stuff like that?” Sasori made a face of disgust.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am!” Sasori rolled his eyes with a sigh.

“What are you? Twelve? I am not indulging you with nonsense like that!” Deidara whined, fueling Sasori’s annoyance.

“No, danna!” He yelled, much too loud for Sasori’s preference. “What was it like when you did feel stuff like that? You know, before you decided to convert yourself into a puppet? You have to remember something from your life before that, hm!” He hated that Deidara’s reasoning actually made sense to him. It was less of him wanting Sasori to give him attention and more of genuine curiosity about his partner’s life that Sasori often forgets about. “Oh, like, here’s a question!” Sasori made no visible sign of refusal, so Deidara pressed on. “Are you a virgin?” Unnecessary diction added to each syllable. It took Sasori aback, but only for moment, before he regained composure and looked Deidara in the eyes.

“Why would I reveal information such as that?” He inquired him monotonously.

“Because you transferred over to a puppet body in your teen years, and unless you prove to me that you’re not a thirty-five year old virgin then I will forever think that you are a thirty-five year old virgin. Unless that puppet body of yours is capable of coitus, hm.” He refuted flatly. Sasori was offended by the teen’s audacity. 

“This body is not designed to engage in sexual intercourse. Unless you want a poisonous stinger up your ass.” Deidara laughed boisterously at this, but Sasori didn’t see the humor in his statement. 

“So you _are _a virgin!” Deidara continued to snicker, thinking this a fact. Sasori’s eye’s twitched, despite not having any eyelid muscles. 

“I’m _not _a virgin.” He pronounced clearly, aggravated that he was letting trivial stuff like this get under his skin. Deidara’s laughter ceased immediately.

“Wait, you’re not?!” 

“No.” 

“What?! How old were you?!” Deidara vocalized, surprised. Sasori smirked in response, in spite of himself, surprising Deidara more.

“Younger than you, that’s for sure.” He coyly and suggestively informed. Deidara’s mouth dropped open.

“Ok, so danna’s got game.”

“Maybe I do.” 

“Who was it with?” Sasori’s smug smirk instantly dropped at the question. Changing back to the lackadaisical look he usually wore. 

“T-That’s not important.” Deidara caught his stutter immediately. 

“You stuttered?!”

“I did not.”

“You totally did, hm!” Deidara was amused watching Sasori lie to his face. Sasori turned his head to the side, his bangs covering his face.

“We’re not going to talk about this anymore.” Sasori ended the conversation and Deidara was distraught. He fumbled over his words trying to find the right ones to say.

“What? What do you mean?! Why?!” Sasori faced him with a serious expression.

“It’s none of your concern, and it’s my personal business.” 

“You can’t just stop there! You didn’t even tell me who it was!”

“You don’t need to know who he was!” Deidara paused, Sasori being under the impression that he had stopped fighting him.

“Wait…what?” Now Sasori was confused.

“What…what?” Deidara, mouth wide upon, pointed to Sasori with wide eyes.

“You said _he.” _At the notion, Sasori’s eyes became as wide as Deidara’s, and they stared at each other for the longest time. Sasori, realizing what was going on after a few minutes, shook his head to try and regain his thoughts.

“No, you must’ve misheard me.” 

“I didn’t.” Deidara reassured confidently, though he could see that it wasn’t as reassuring to Sasori. “Sasori-danna, are you a homosexual, hm?” The question was personal. Sasori didn’t even want to answer. He tried to come up with something, anything, just to dismiss the question and move on to something else. His mouth opened, and then it closed. Deidara watched as Sasori was trying to find words to make a sentence. Eventually, Sasori gave up, and judged that he had to be honest with it now because he didn’t reject it right away. Plus, Deidara didn’t seem the slightest bit stirred with the possibility of the puppet master liking men, so he just decided…might as well. Sasori sighed in defeat.

“I don’t know. I didn’t give myself enough time to figure it out.” Sasori shrugged, further proving his inexperience with the topic at hand. Deidara laid down on his stomach and propped his face up with his hands. 

“What do you mean, hm?” He pondered. Sasori shrugged again.

“I gave myself this body before I had even completed puberty. At that age, you have a lot of things going through your head. You’re trying to find yourself, as the old hag would phrase it. But, that was all different for me because, during my time as a teenager, the Third Great Ninja War was going on. So, I didn’t have time for any of that. I was focused on more important things. And when it ended, I didn’t even bother with nonsense like emotions and feelings. I left the village not long after.” Deidara hummed in acknowledgment. Sasori did so too. He was surprised that he had been as open as he was with this. He didn’t want to admit it, and he certainly would never tell Deidara either, but maybe he trusted Deidara a _tiny _bit. 

“So, wait…” Sasori looked to Deidara, whose was now cradling a pillow to put his chin on. “…if you left the village after the war, then…where…how…when…?”

“You want to know when I had sex?” Sasori was almost calm about the topic now. Deidara bit his lip.

“…yes.”

“And you want to know who it was with?”

“…yes.” Deidara gazed at Sasori with big, hopeful eyes. Sasori took a deep breath and groaned.

“Do you want me to tell the story of how I lost my virginity?” Sasori was unenthused, but he watched as Deidara shook his head up and down vigorously. 

“Now that I know that it was with a man, I’m more than curious, hm!” He looked a little too excited for this, but Sasori supposed that he was still a teenager.

“Well, you’ll be more curious when I tell you that it was someone you’re familiar with.” Deidara’s eyes widened. 

“No.” He dragged out with shock. Sasori nodded his head yes. “I know him?!” Sasori nodded his head again. “No way!” He gasped.

“I’ll give you another hint,” Sasori started. “He’s from your village.” Deidara inhaled so much air that Sasori was sure that he was choking. 

“You had sex with a guy AND he’s from a rival village?!” Deidara was practically laughing at how unbelievable this was. “Man, your village must’ve thrown a fit, hm!” Sasori shook his head, a smile almost grazing his face.

“No, the village doesn’t know. No one knows. If word broke out that I had intercourse with a _man from the Hidden Stone Village, _I can’t even fathom what would happen. My sentence probably would’ve been worse if they found out that he was a _jinchuriki.” _

“HE WAS A JINCHURIKI?!” Sasori jumped at the loudness of Deidara’s voice, again, putting his hand over the only organ he had left in his body, ironically the heart, and Deidara started speaking again. “That means it was either Roshi or Han!”

“You’d be correct about that.” Sasori confirmed. He noticed Deidara getting riled up about this whole ordeal and he couldn’t help but wonder why he was so interested in this in the first place. He thought he only cared about himself and his art. He must’ve been wrong. 

“So, uh…” Deidara put a finger to his chin in thought. “Was it Roshi?” Sasori made a distinguishing face of disgust, and Deidara audibly said, “It was Han?! You fucked Han?!” Sasori didn’t care for the younger’s choice of words, but he wasn’t going to scold him on that tonight.

“Yes, it was with Han.” 

“Oh my god, you HAVE to tell me the story of how that happened, hm!” 

“I don’t know, it’s not that entertaining of a story.”

“Oh come on! The guy who’s always like, _I don’t like to keep people waiting, _is putting off a story on how he lost his virginity to Han because it’s _not entertaining?! _I call bull, hm!” Sasori snickered, he actually snickered at something that Deidara said.

“…you really want me to tell you?”

“YES!” 

“Alright, fine.” Deidara was pleased he was able to convince Sasori to tell him something personal about himself. “Get comfortable. It’s going to be a long story.”

_“It starts with the Third Great Ninja War. The war had been going on for about a month, and the Sand Village was beginning to get attacked. The ninja immediately prepared for battle. I, at fifteen, was assigned to be a part of the puppet brigade: an organization composed of the Sand Village’s most elite puppeteers. Due to my age, but also due to my skill nonetheless, my main job was to stay back and repair damaged puppets so that puppet masters could go back into battle quickly. If I wasn’t doing that, I was creating new ones. I made many puppets during my time in war. After all, no one can make a puppet quite like I can. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I was assigned my first assignment on the battlefield…”_

“Sasori!” From inside the tent, the red-headed boy peered up from his most recent project to see the General of the Puppet Brigade peering in through the open folds of the tent. He waited for him to give an order. “Stand.” Sasori stood obediently amongst the pile of puppet parts that he was drowning in and faced the general, posture stiff. 

“Yes, sir.” He responded in proper military fashion. The general took a few steps closer to the boy. 

“The brigade took quite a hit today. There were over twenty casualties, thirteen being fatal.” 

“That is unfortunate.” He voiced out loud, concern not even close to grazing his features. The general sighed, which made Sasori’s brown-grey eyes dart upwards to look into the general’s eyes. 

“I need to bring you into the battle. I didn’t want to because of your age, but our numbers are getting lower each day, so I have no choice.” Sasori was taken aback by the sudden proposal, but surely it was nothing that he couldn’t handle. “I’m assigning you to the North formation. You will leave immediately and assist them where they need it. Someone else will take over the repairs. You just get ready to head out. You will need to arrive before sundown. Someone will meet you halfway to make sure you arrive.”

“Yes, sir.” The general left the tent, and Sasori went to start packing what he deemed necessary. He would have to travel a decent distance to get to the North formation. It was at the border of the Sand Village and the Stone Village. The other formation was in the east, which was the border of the Sand and the Leaf. After he gathered the necessary materials, he departed out into the desert to join the North formation.

As per usual, there was nothing interesting out in the desert. It was hot, but the winds were harsh. If Sasori hadn’t lived here all his life, he’d surely hate it.

He hadn’t managed to make it by sundown. Night came faster than he could imagine, and he was forced to rest until morning. He made camp for the night and tried to get some sleep before sunrise, but something was bothering him. Hadn’t the general said that someone was supposed to meet him? He wasn’t too far out from where he needed to be, so…where were they? He shrugged it off as him not being close enough, just bad luck that they haven’t ran into each other yet, and he closed his eyes for some much needed sleep.

Later on that night, Sasori awoke unexpectedly. He stared up at the starry sky that had a film of sand blowing under it. Something wasn’t setting right with him. He didn’t know why, but his gut was churning. Not questioning it much further, he put out the fire, packed up his things, and started heading into the direction of his assigned squad in the middle of the night. 

Dawn was breaking after a few hours, and there was still no sight of the other Sand ninja. He started to run. 

When the sun was visible in the sky, Sasori began to see debris. A single sandal from a pair was spotted, and Sand Village headbands were scattered about. He started to sprint.

The closer he got to the North formation, the more damaged and destroyed puppets were seen. It was like walking though a graveyard of wood and scrap metal. He stopped sprinting to catch his breath, and walked slowly through the mess of puppets; observing. There was no blood that he could see, so that gave him the hope that the worst hadn’t come yet.

Then, he spotted it.

Amongst the grave of puppets was a body. A human body. The corpse was fresh, but not fresh enough for the blood to keep spilling. Sasori gagged; appalled by the stench that emitted from it. They were in a desert, where the sun was intense no matter the weather, so it was no surprise that the body smelled as bad as it did. Sasori pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose. While he was focused on the one body that he found, he averted his gaze to find the massacred bodies of other Sand ninja. Sasori had never seen so many corpses in one area before. It was congested. It made him feel claustrophobic, yet oddly enough, it felt comfortable. 

He walked through the bodies cautiously, noting the placement of each limb as to not run into them. The smell grew more putrid as he went deeper into the mess.

“Kid…hey, kid!” Sasori whipped his head around at the whisper, swiftly getting a kunai out to defend himself. Once he did that, a sand ninja, much older than he, came out from behind a rock formation, that Sasori hadn’t even noticed was there. Why was there a rock formation in this part of the desert? “It’s ok! You’re Sasori? I’m who you were supposed to meet a while back there.” Sasori put his kunai away and let the ninja approach him.

“What happened here?” He asked, not even worrying about formalities. The older ninja looked frightful.

“There was an ambush. The Stone Ninja bombed us at nightfall. I checked to see if anyone was still alive, but it’s pretty hard to survive an explosion.”

“Are you the only one alive?”

“No. There were two others, but they ran back to where you just came from. I stayed behind to tell you what happened.” Sasori looked upset.

“Those two are cowards. They give the Sand Village a bad name. They make the rest of us look like fools!” The older was surprised with how much rage the red-head could muster in a matter of seconds. He attempted to calm him down, but it didn’t work. “Will the Stone Ninja come back?” The older ninja nodded.

“Now that they’ve blown through our defenses, literally, I can guarantee that they’ll come to get themselves closer to the Sand Village.” Sasori put a hand to his chin.

“When?”

“Soon.”

“Go back to base. Tell them what happened here, and that we need more ninja.” The older ninja was surprised.

“Why not you? I’ll stay behind. I’ve been here since day one.”

“That the problem. They know you’d be here. They don’t know that I was sent here. I’ll catch them off guard. Make them think that you’re gone, or dead.” Sasori seemed pretty adamant about this plan, he must’ve been really upset with this whole ordeal. The other ninja was more concerned with the fact that Sasori was new to the battlefield and didn’t know the kinds of things that the Stone Ninja could do. He was inexperienced, and his ideas didn’t make sense to the older. He felt obligated to stay behind because of their significant age difference. 

“I can’t leave you here alone! You haven’t-“

“You can and you will. Don’t make me lose my patience!” He changed his mind: this kid was a brat. 

“Fine. How do you know it’ll work though?”

“I have a plan.” Sasori said confidently. “Just make sure you do your job right.” The older ninja’s eyes twitched. This kid was irritating as all hell. Without another word, because he couldn’t bare to talk with this kid anymore, he left Sasori alone in the North. If he wanted to deal with the ninja himself, then fine, he would have it his way.

_“Wow, that ninja didn’t care about you at all, hm.” Deidara commented on the story so far. “Also, I can’t believe the Explosion Corps were there! You know, Sasori-danna, I was a part of that, hm!” _

_ “I know that, Deidara. You wouldn’t be able to make explosive clay without it.” _

_ “Right right.” Deidara turned to look at Sasori with excited eyes. “So, you send the one ninja home, and now you’re the only puppet master standing. What’s next?” Sasori was rather relieved that Deidara’s interest was peaked. Less talk and more listening. So, not backing out now, he continues._

_ “At this point now, I was anticipating the arrival of the Stone Ninja. I had a plan, and I was going to go through with it in spite of the flaws. The ninja was right, I was inexperienced, but I was sent here to fight the enemy ninja off and I was going to do it. So I waited, and once the Stone Ninja stepped foot in the sand, the plan went into action…”_

“Coast is clear!” A ninja from the Stone Village shouted. The rest of the ninja followed suit and met with the one ninja as they moved forward. The bodies were in the same place as they were yesterday, scattered on the sandy dunes. This should be an easy win for them. They’ve already taken out the entirety of the Sand’s defenses. The rest is smooth sailing.

They trudged through the sand where they were met with the grave of puppets. They were ugly things. Some didn’t even look human. They kicked the broken parts out of the way, hearing them clinging against the other puppets. They were happy that they exterminated the majority of those puppet masters. Then they wouldn’t be able to use these nightmare spawns. 

From behind the group of ninja, a puppet twitched. It started to move, left unnoticed by the Stone ninja. It was a smaller puppet, resembling a sand flea, specifically designed to be able to burrow into the sand. It looked at its targets and then dug down into the sand. The Stone ninja suspected nothing.

One of the Stone ninja winced as they fell to the ground. The ninja around him turned to him in worry and watched as their comrade’s body started to spaz uncontrollably. 

“What’s going on with him?” One of them asked urgently. “Was he bitten by an animal or something?” Suddenly, multiple other ninja started dropping like flies. Their bodies were responding in the exact same way that the first body was. People started urgently searching for the source of this, until one man saw this bug shaped…thing dig into the sand. Upon noticing this, he swiftly grabbed the object and crushed it ruthlessly. The remaining ninja stared at the parts. It was…a puppet?

The man who crushed the sand flea puppet looked around every which way. In the distance, behind the remnants of one of the Stone ninja’s jutsu, a tuft of vibrant red hair was spotted underneath a head wrap and neck cover: the standard attire for the Sunagakure military. Upon being spotted, the Sand ninja removed himself from view, but it was too late. The dominating Stone ninja smirked. He performed hand signs and pushed his palms to the ground. The terrain shook violently, causing the Sand ninja to falter, and forcing him to retreat to a safer area: right in front of the other ninja. 

All of the Stone ninja stared at the lone Sand ninja. 

“Sir,” One of them said, whispering to one who forced the kid out of hiding. “He’s the only one here. I don’t sense any other chakra.”

“Good.” He replied. “This should be over quickly.” He went to perform more hand signs, but something went wrong. Sasori predicted his movements faster than he could perform them. His chakra strings flared out and caught on to the puppet closest to the groups leader. With a flick of his finger, a blade shot out from the puppet’s hand and lacerated one of the ninja’s wrists. He let out a scream, cueing the start of the battle. Everyone went to charge at Sasori, and Sasori prepared his puppets. He had never used ten puppets at one time before, but he was hilariously outnumbered, and he couldn’t risk another loss for the Sand. 

Ten puppets arose from the ground and Sasori went to work. The puppets started attacking the surrounding ninja, all of them redirecting their attention to the puppets. They couldn’t get to Sasori if they couldn’t get through his puppets. His hands moved quick. Commanding each puppet with precision, but it still wasn’t enough. He began to raise every stray puppet on the ground, swiftly switching between puppets to counteract the mass amount of Stone ninja. There must’ve been more than fifty puppets up at once. Not all of them were attacking, Sasori could still only control ten, but his movements were so swift that the Stone ninja couldn’t tell which puppet was in use.

Each puppet up was a puppet Sasori had crafted. He knew their designs in and out; he knew every secret, every weapon. Everything, of course, laced with a poison unique to the puppet. A sadistic smile graced his features as he heard the ninjas scream, watching them fall. They were confused. They were scared. Sasori…Sasori was ecstatic. There was a waterfall of sweat dripping down his face and his muscles were tense with ache, but he didn’t care. One by one, the ninja’s dropped dead. He saw one with a slit neck (how was the head still attached?), one’s intestines were pouring out at the gut, a limb there, a limb here, and blood _everywhere._

When there was one ninja left, Sasori delivered the final blow, crushing his head against the ground. The head erupted. Heaving and panting, Sasori released all of the puppets, and they too fell with what was the Stone ninja. He slouched, exhaustion consuming his entire being, and he looked up hazily at the outcome of his performance. Bodies, both real and not, laid motionless on the sand. The sand itself had begun absorbing whatever was draining from Sasori’s victims. As far as the eye could see, the sand was stained blood red. Sasori hadn’t even realized how much blood was actually spilt. He went to take a step forward and felt, and heard, squishing under his feet. He looked down to see his foot engulfed with someone’s bodily fluids. He shook his foot, the fluids flinging off in random places. He also hadn’t realized how close he was to the whole mess. Still trying to catch his breath, he made his way out of the mess to find an area that wasn’t contaminated with blood and corpses. 

_“Wait, hold up. You step in someone’s body goop and all you do is walk away, hm?” _

_ “That’s what I said, isn’t it?” The storm had picked up significantly. It was making it harder for them to speak to each other without raising their voices. Deidara shook his head._

_ “My man, you must have a very strong gag reflex, hm.” Sasori rolled his eyes at the comment._

_ “I don’t have a gag reflex.” Deidara peered over from his pillow._

_ “So, this is great and all, but when are we going to get to the part where you frick the Jinchūriki of the Five-Tails, hm?” The brat’s excitement was irritating. Sasori’s eye twitched._

_ “I’ll get there if you’d stop interrupting me, Deidara!” He spat. Deidara put his hands up in false defense._

_ “Ok ok, yeesh!” His hands went down and he prepped himself for the rest of the story. He motioned a hand to Sasori. “You may continue, hm.” Sasori crossed his arms._

_ “Fine, but no more interruptions!”_

_ “Fine!”_

_ “Ok. Anyway, after what I did at the North Formation, I was permanently assigned to be on the frontlines. I continued to make puppets when I had time, because the quality of my puppets are unreached, but I was proven to have been more valuable as a ninja when placed in front of our enemies. The number of casualties that I had caused continued to rise, and I was feeling proud of myself as a puppet master. One day though, I was foolish. I had strayed away from our camp, feeling that I was capable of defending myself in case of emergency. But I let my guard down, and I wasn’t fully aware of what had happened until it was over…”_

It was early in the morning and there were no battles currently, so the past few days had been rather…boring. Sasori’s body had woken up earlier than what he wanted. He tried to go back to sleep, but it was a lost cause. Rather upset, he sat up and remained sitting up for a few minutes. 

“…have to use the bathroom.” So he got up and exited the tent, careful not to wake anyone up in the process. He didn’t have to walk as far away as he did, but he did. And when he deemed himself far enough away, he found a spot and went to do his business. His eyes were still half closed. It was taking him longer to wake up today. He yawned. 

He was almost done when he heard the noise. He forced his eyes open to look around, but could see nothing. The desert became dead silent, or rather, Sasori was awake enough now to notice just how quiet it actually was. He zipped himself up, and took the precautionary measure of taking cover. He waited for another noise, but heard nothing. Was he delusional? Did he mishear something? He peaked around, eyes darting every which way, but all he could see was sand. He sighed. It must’ve just been his imagination. 

He took a few steps out into the open, and then he heard it again. His head darted to the right, then to the left. What was that noise? Then, he felt it. His face looked down in panic.

“Shit!” Part of the ground shot up and struck Sasori’s jaw. He flew backwards and hit the ground hard. He rolled, struggling to get back on his feet due to the momentum. When he finally got his bearings, he glared up at the Stone ninja who finally decided to show themselves. They smirked down at him; seeing the clear disadvantage that Sasori had. Sasori was in no position to fight. He was only wearing the brown shirt and pants that went under the flak jacket, and he had none of his puppets. Sasori wasn’t a close range fighter, but he supposed today he would be. 

He rubbed his jaw, in pain from the literal rock that uppercutted him, and he charged at the ninja before him. He wasn’t going down without a fight.

He managed to steal a kunai from one of the ninja and used it as much as possible. His movements were stiff and slow, a clear sign that he was rusty in that area. He was able to get a few hits in, but not enough to draw them back. He was punched in the ribs, then in the face. Someone kicked the back of his knee, causing him to stumble forwards to the ground. They were caving in on him. He tripped one ninja, then cut the ankle of another. Someone kicked the kunai out of his hand and grabbed him by his hair. Sasori winced. He was yanked up, Sasori grabbing at the hands gripping his hair, and was kneed in the face. Hard. The ninja let him go and he fell to the ground. He spat out the blood from his mouth, heaving as he tried to get back on his feet, but was knocked down yet again. He looked up with resentful eyes, blood dripping down his face. He was punched across the face and his vision was getting blurry. When he went to stand, he was punched again, harder, and was knocked out instantly. He blacked out, and couldn’t remember a damn thing. When he awoke, he was in a place he didn’t recognize, too white and artificial to be the desert, and he was tied to a chair. He pulled against the handcuffs, feeling them penetrate his skin, but no luck. He cursed to himself. He couldn’t believe that he was stupid enough to let himself get kidnapped.

_“YOU WERE KIDNAPPED?!” Deidara shouted in disbelief. Sasori ushered him to be quiet, saying that they were’t the only ones in the inn. Deidara scoffed. “Who cares about that? You were kidnapped?!” Sasori sighed. Even after all of these years, he was still disappointed in himself._

_ “Yes, I was. I told you I made a stupid choice.” Deidara couldn’t believe what he was hearing._

_ “I can’t believe my village held you captive, hm.” Sasori scoffed. Deidara’s ignorance was laughable._

_ “I guess they never brought the topic forward. How deplorable.” Deidara turned, confused._

_ “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sasori smirked. He was ready to tell Deidara the truth about his former village._

_ “The ninja who kidnapped me were not hired to do so. They did it on their own, without permission from the Tsuchikage. They did it illegally.” Deidara shot up._

_ “What?!”_

_ “They don’t tell you that in the academy, do they?” Deidara was at a loss for words. Sasori couldn’t help but chuckle. “No matter. It’s their problem that they still haven’t confessed to it. It will only get worse the longer it’s kept a secret.”_

_ “What exactly happened while you were captive? I mean, if it wasn’t authorized by the Tsuchikage, then basically anything flies, right?”_

_ “Smart observation, Deidara.”_

_ “So, what happened, hm?”_

_ “I was interrogated. They pressured me in an attempt to get information on the Sand village, but they never got anything out of me. So, like most war interrogations, they proceeded to the torture method. At first they would just smack me around, threaten me, and stuff of the like. But then they started to get desperate. Their methods became more brutal. They started ordering me to say something, anything, but I still refused. They became fed up with me. So, they broke me where they knew it would hurt me. They figured, a puppet master can’t use their puppets if they can’t use their hands.” Deidara’s mouth dropped in realization._

_ “Oh no.” He drew out. Sasori nodded._

_ “They broke each of my fingers individually. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t hurt me, because it did. I never cried, but I wanted to.”_

_ “That’s brutal, hm.” Deidara mumbled, shaking his head. Sasori shrugged. _

_ “Yeah, it was. That wasn’t even the worst of it. After breaking each of my fingers, they broke my wrists. And they continued to do damage to my hands and wrists, breaking them more than they were. Eventually, they stopped trying to get information out of me and left me to die. My wounds were left untreated, and I had no source of food or water, so my body became fatigued, which lead to me becoming so unbelievably sick that my basic senses failed to work.”_

_ “Damn. How did you survive something like that, hm?”_

_ “Well, all of this leads to the moment that you’ve been wanting me to get to.” Deidara gasped at the notion._

_ “Is Han about to show up?!” He asked excitedly. Sasori nodded. “Oh shit! When?! How?! I need answers, danna!” Sasori stifled a laugh._

_ “I told you before that this interrogation was unauthorized. When the Stone village found out about what their ninja were doing, you can imagine that they weren’t very happy. So, they sent one of their own to stop the whole operation from continuing. And Han was the ninja that they sent.”_

_ “OH MY GOD, REALLY?!” Sasori nodded again. “Oh my god, what the hell is this story?! This is crazy! Are you sure it’s real, hm?”_

_ “I wouldn’t be telling you it if it wasn’t.”_

_ “Ok ok ok, continue with it! It’s just starting to get good, hm!” Sasori shook his head at the brat. He never ceased to be annoying. _

_ “The next part is blurry because I was in such poor health, but I recall laying on my side on the floor…”_

It was too bright…too white. Why did they keep it so untouched? It strained his eyes. Sasori laid motionless on the floor of the room. His eyelids were heavy, but he refused to keep them closed for too long. When was the last time someone came and visited him? He couldn’t remember. Everything was so foggy. He took a breath, the breath being shaky and minimal. 

He forced his eyes to the side, and focused harder so his vision would be clear. His hands and wrists were still broken. They were starting to swell and bruise. If left untreated any longer, he would surely lose his hands. He blinked slowly. He wanted to move, he did, he tried, but he just…couldn’t. 

His stomach growled for about the tenth time today. 

He tried to swallow, but it hurt. It was too dry. He had ran out of water a long time ago.

He wondered if this was how he was going to die. He supposed dying in a war wasn’t all that bad. After all, his parents had perished in the previous war. But they died at the hands of a ninja. He was going to die of starvation probably. Maybe a disease if he lives any longer. 

…was he being dramatic?

He took another shaky breath. There was a part of him that wanted someone to come through that door. A Sand ninja would be ideal; that would mean they found him, that he would, maybe, have a chance of survival. But even an enemy ninja would do. He just wanted to hear something, to feel something. Anything to distract him from the coldness of the floor and the numbness from the unbearable pain that crawled all over his body. He took another breath, and the heaviness of his eyes won, and he closed his eyes. Accepting the possibility of death in that moment.

…

*clang*

…

*whoosh*

Sasori’s face scrunched up. It took all of his strength to open his eyes, even if it was just a squint. There was some sort of commotion. It was loud, too loud. It disturbed his dulled senses. 

It wasn’t a normal noise. It was as if someone took a piece of sheet metal and waved it back and forth. Or a gust of wind that was too strong and whistled against a house. He couldn’t make out any words, but he could hear…noise. 

After the wobbly sound, the noises got louder. No words, but he knew the sound of fighting when he heard it. Clanging weapons, loud banging, the sound of crumbling walls. And then as quickly as it was there, it was gone. And there were no more noises.

Sasori’s eyes furrowed. After the noise, the silence was deafening. Unwelcoming, and curiosity was eating him away. 

Time passes, and suddenly, there’s a click. Very faint, and small. Sasori couldn’t make out what it was. The lights, maybe? Had he simply gone mad? His eyes lazily moved to look for a source, and they focused in on the door. The door was…open. And not only that, but a blurry figure stood in the entry way. It looked like paint. Watercolor. Like someone had taken a paint covered brush and smeared it across his eyes. Was it even a person that he was seeing? It was just smudges of red and mahogany and offset whites and grays. 

As soon as he was able to make out the colors, the blurs of colors started to move. Were they getting closer? They were certainly getting bigger. Yeah, they had to have been getting closer. Then, they stop. Sasori blinked absentmindedly. He remained unresponsive. Not like he could respond if he tried anyway.

After a moment of nothing happening, the blur moves again and Sasori suddenly feels the pressure of hands. He flinched; now he knew for sure that it was a person. 

Then, Sasori starts to feel levitated. He was getting picked up? And, woah, those hands were big. Really big. The placement of them was enough to tell. One had its fingers placed under his ribcage, but the palm reached his shoulder blade. The other was in the crease of his knee, closer to his thigh. The hand could wrap around his entire thigh if it wanted, but it didn’t. They were firm, yet so gentle. And that was mostly what it was: gentle. 

Lifting him up, they were so careful not to hurt him, and Sasori could feel it. While he was being moved, he didn’t feel a jolt of pain once. Even in the most damaged places. His nerves and muscles were reacting slightly, but it was never caused by the outside force. 

When he was close enough to them, he notes that they are vastly larger compared to his small stature. 

But that wasn’t his first thought.

His first thought was that it was warm. It wasn’t body heat he was feeling. It was artificial. Almost like steam. Gosh, they were so incredibly warm! So warm, in fact, that Sasori eyes closed on their own, and he fell asleep in an instant. 

_Sasori stopped abruptly when Deidara burst out into a fit of laughter. If he had any veins, they would be popping out of his head right now._

_ “What are you laughing at?!” He shouted, his patience wavering. Deidara didn’t stop. Did he even hear him with how loud he was laughing? “What. Are. You. Laughing. At?!” Sasori spat out. Deidara grabbed hold of his chest, waving his free hand in front of him so that his partner would see that he wasn’t ignoring him._

_ “I’m sorry, I really am. It’s just, after all that, it just ends with you falling asleep? Like, it was so descriptive and then, boom, fast asleep. It was just funny, I’m sorry.” Sasori did not look amused. Deidara, seeing how peeved he was, cleared his throat. “A-anyway, you were saying, hm?” Sasori stared in annoyance at his partner, wondering if he even deserved to listen to the rest of the story. Deidara gave him that stupid pleading look again and Sasori groaned. Deidara won this round. Sasori cleared his throat, even though he had no reason to. _

_ “Anyways, Deidara,” He spared a moment to glare at Deidara, who shivered in response. “I was exhausted. A pretty valid reason to have passed out. And I was asleep for a while. When I woke up-“_

_ “Did you get the D?”_

_ “The…what?”_

_ “The D. You know, dick.” _

_ “What? No! I didn’t get…why did you say it like that?” Deidara chuckles._

_ “You’re so old, Sasori-danna!” Sasori tried not to be offended by the comment. Deidara laughed it off. “Whatever. You fell asleep, then you woke up, now what?” Sasori was thrown off by what Deidara said previously, that he had completely forgotten where he was. Once he remembered, he cleared his head and resumed his story._

_ “When I woke up, I notice that I’ve gained some control over my senses. I could see more clearly, and what I could see was that I was in a place that I didn’t recognize…”_

He wasn’t sure what caused him to stir. Perhaps it was the howling wind, or the dangerous storm outside. No matter. When he did awaken, the first thing that came to mind was the fact that he could see. It took his eyes a moment to adjust, but they didn’t remain in a blurry state. Sasori immediately felt unsettled. He didn’t recognize this building. He hadn’t the slightest clue where he was. It was too gray, but the weather could’ve just been messing with the color palette. He went to rub his head, feeling I migraine emerging, but then he realized. He pulled back his hand in shock when he felt little to no pain. His hands were bandaged up…his wrists too. He looked down from where he laid and saw that parts of his torso were bandaged up too.

“Wait…where’s my shirt?” He thought to himself. A wave of panic coming over him, he hurriedly checked to see if any of his other clothes were missing. He sighed a sigh of relief when he saw his pants were still intact. But that didn’t explain his missing shirt. Coincidentally, he turns his head, and there it was. Folded neatly beside him. Speaking of, he still hadn’t figured out where he was. He observed his surroundings more, the only notable thing being that the building was a small, single-roomed house of sorts, maybe even a shack, made of stone. And then, he saw him. Out of the corner of his eye, a man stood in the doorway, his back facing him. Sasori’s eyes went wide, and suddenly he felt…intimidated. The person in the doorway was massive, huge, bulky, and as far as height went, well over six foot. Dare he say that he was closer to seven feet in height? Sasori was startled. Compared to this guy, Sasori was a mere twig. He had only reached five feet a few months ago, and he didn’t have nearly as much muscle definition as this man did. When he looked at him though, he couldn’t think of anything else but the fact that the man that he was looking at was an enemy ninja. So, Sasori went with basic instinct.

With a dangerous look in his eyes, Sasori arose to move and attack the ninja from behind. When he did this, a sharp pain shot up through his arms and he fell back down to where he was, biting his lip in agony.

“Don’t move. You’re still injured.” A bass, orotund voice spoke. Sasori said nothing in return. He was expecting to be submitted into more interrogation, considering the man was an enemy ninja, and the last time he was with them he got his hands broken. “I’m sorry for the actions of my village. They weren’t supposed to do those things to you.” Sasori looked at him stunned. He still wasn’t facing him, he was still staring out into the storm. But Sasori couldn’t understand. He was apologizing for his village? It didn’t make sense. They were in a war; both of their villages had done things far less humane, and yet here he was. Apologizing. 

“How idiotic.” He thinks. Sasori props himself up to be able to face the ninja fully, and says, directing it towards him, “You say that as if it makes this okay.” He was stern, clear. He knew that the other knew what he was talking about. The brooding Stone ninja turns, unwavering and unaffected by the Sand ninja’s dirty look. He faces him, Sasori being able to see the features that was originally hidden. Never before had he seen someone with eyes so intense. Protruding, bulging eyes, that pierced his soul. He appeared eyebrow less, and his eyelashes were stark white, giving a strange white ring around his eyes. He wore heavy armor, all red. From his head to his feet he was covered in armor. It hid his face. Actually, there was no part of him that he could see aside from his eyes. Perhaps that’s why his attention was drawn to them. He was a terrifying figure, no doubt. Just looking at him gave off a dangerous aura. 

Once he concluded that he didn’t look friendly, he begins to walk towards Sasori with big, long strides. Sasori kept a straight face, but is slightly intimidated. He stops right beside him, and he looks down. His eyes piercing straight through his.

“You may not agree with my decision, but you were in no state to deny my help anyhow.” Sasori flinched, the comment being a direct shot to his pride. They remained staring at each other, unfaltering. It was as if he were a statue: not moving and not blinking. Sasori was unnerved, but he glowers up at him anyhow. He frowns.

“I didn’t need help from a ninja who belonged to the village responsible for my torture.” 

“Big talk coming from such a small boy.” Sasori fumed, teeth grinding against each other. He had never wanted to punch someone so badly. Too bad his hands were broken. 

That was it. Sasori’s patience was gone, and he refused to waste time throwing jabs at someone else. 

“Yeah?” He seethes. “Well I wasn’t the only person taken hostage, so what made little ol’ me so special?” The man blinked, for the first time since approaching Sasori, and remained motionless. It was Sasori’s turn to be the intimidating one. After minutes of sitting and staring, the man takes a slow, deep breath, and turns away from Sasori’s gaze.

“I couldn’t leave someone so beautiful.” He answered, just barely above a whisper. Sasori’s expression changed to that of bewilderment in a matter of seconds. The sentence certainly made him shut his mouth, then again, he wasn’t much of a talker to begin with. Neither was the man that stood a few inches next to him. 

After Sasori received an unthinkable answer from the giant, the two became tight-lipped and the sudden situation became…awkward. In an attempt to cut through the uncomfortably thick air, Sasori tried to shake it off and respond. He cleared his throat.

“Quite the juxtaposition if you ask me.” He managed to express his thoughts in a single sentence. He waited for him to respond, but the man remained quiet. Then, he sighed and shut his eyes. The change in character caught Sasori’s attention. 

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” He replied, his voice managing to go deeper than it was when he first heard it. That was barely a reply to what Sasori had just said, but perhaps he was avoiding the response on purpose. Sasori tilted his head marginally. Not only was he perplexed by the situation, but he became curious about this man.

Sasori couldn’t pinpoint where his curiosity begun. He was a ninja: hearing that someone was attracted by his appearance was unheard of. More importantly, it was not a topic that he delved into. He liked to keep a level of maturity and wondering about if someone liked him or not was the least of his worries. So, in that regard, he couldn’t think of any way to bring up the topic without him sounding like a needy teenage girl. So, he ends up saying…

“Thank you, for treating me…and such.” When he says this, he looks the man in the eyes and he felt them soften. How was it different from the look before, Sasori couldn’t identify. It was just softer somehow. He leans against a wall next to Sasori.

“There’s no need to thank me. Anyone would’ve done it.”

“No.” Sasori finds himself saying. “Not just anyone.” 

“Anyone who’s a good man.” He retaliates. Sasori gave a smile that seemed genuine, appreciative, but it soon became a lopsided grin that showed his true intentions. 

“You mean anyone who’s infatuated with my appearance.” He looked him straight in the eyes when he said this, and once he did, he saw the man turn his head away and he knew that he struck a chord. 

He’s caught him off guard, and he knows that there’s no running away from it. So he says…

“You heard that, huh?” Sasori rolls his eyes at the question, and looks at him dumbly.

“Yeah, it was directed towards me.” He replies. It was a stupid question, really. The man huffs again. Sasori thinks that he’s somewhat flustered, but he was wearing a mask, so it was hard to say. 

He became unusually silent, so Sasori decided to be the one to speak up.

“Risky business falling for the enemy.” He teases. “You don’t even know who you’ve fallen for.”

“Sasori.” He immediately says. Now Sasori’s caught off guard, and his smirk is wiped off of his face. “Your actions while deployed alone in the Sand have spread. You’re a major threat to the other villages.” Sasori just stares back in wonder. He knew his name. More so, the villages knew his name? Did all of this happen when he was held captive? How was he supposed to respond to that?

Then, a thought struck him. If he was considered a threat to all of the other villages, then getting rid of him would’ve been more acceptable. Not saving him and nursing him back to health. So he just says that to him.

“If you knew I was a threat, why risk bringing me here alone? To heal me, no less.” The man looks to him, an honest look in his eyes, while also appearing sorrowful.

“I didn’t expect the threat to be around my age. And I certainly didn’t expect him to look-“ He stops himself. Turns away, like he’s not able to face the young Sand ninja. 

At this point, Sasori was starting to feel…something. He wasn’t sure what it was. Guilt, maybe? Aside the point, he wasn’t quite in the teasing mood anymore. So instead he asks…

“What’s your name?” The man peers over at him without moving his head.

“Han.” He says. Sasori’s eyes widen. He was made aware of the fact that the Stone Village had Jinchūriki battling in their war. Everyone knew, and they knew them by name too. He didn’t know what the Jinchūriki’s looked like, but, for some reason, he wasn’t expecting a man like Han.

He was breaching over the height of most men, bulkier too, and yet he was supposed to be around the same age as Sasori? He couldn’t be fifteen, that’s for sure. He had to have been older, but then again, how was Sasori supposed to know?

“You’re the Jinchūriki.” Sasori states, grabbing Han’s attention. He nods.

“Yes, I am.” He looks as if he’s expecting Sasori to say something. He knew what it was too, but he doesn’t say it. He cocks his head, furrowing the empty spaces where his eyebrows should’ve been. “You’re not going to bash me for being a monster?” He asks him. Sasori shakes his head. For once in his life, he’s starting to feellike he cares about someone else. Emotions didn’t arise easily with him. Not after what happened with his parents. 

“You saved your enemy’s life. How much of a monster could you possibly be?”

_“Aw, that’s actually sweet, hm.” Deidara comments on the story thus far. Sasori sighs._

_ “Yeah, well, I kill them for a living now. So it all comes full circle.” Deidara chuckles, but it’s half-hearted. _

_ “I feel like you and him are going to fuck soon, hm.” He predicts slyly. Sasori raises an eyebrow._

_ “What makes you say that?” He asks him. Deidara grunts as he adjusts his positioning. He was in that spot for a while, and his body was falling asleep._

_ “Cause danna was just being nice, and you’re not a very nice guy, hm!” He answers while stretching. Sasori shrugs._

_ “Well, you’re not wrong.” _

_ “I’m not? So I’m right?! You guys are fucking?!” Sasori smirks._

_ “I don’t know. Guess we’ll find out.” He provoked, itching the blonde along. _

_ “OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!” He screamed aloud, making Sasori shake his head._

_ “You’re such a child.” He tells him, hand over his eyes to block his view of Deidara. When he lifted his hand to take a peek, Deidara was staring at him intently, making Sasori snicker. “Alright. I’ll continue.” Deidara cheered, and Sasori shook his head, yet again. _

_ “Han seemed rather surprised by what I said to him, and I’m not surprised that he was. Jinchūriki have a bad omen that surrounds them. However, I’m a man of my word, and I meant what I said. We stared at each other for a while. Maybe even a little too long. I kept my expression blank as always, and he kept his in a permanent state of shock. Then suddenly, he snickers. I looked at him, confused. I didn’t catch what was so funny to him. Then, he turns to me again and says…”_

“You are something else.” Han tells Sasori, humored. They’re caught staring at each other again, but the stares were different. Han’s eyes, intense as they were, were relaxed. He looked at him with a fondness that he’d never seen directed at himself before. Sasori looked at him differently too, he felt it. His face still held little expression, but he felt…calmer. It was a weird transition to explain because it happened in a matter of seconds. What first was intimidation and distrust, suddenly became comfortable. Comfort might be a strange word to use, but that’s what he felt. Sasori became so relaxed that talking just seemed like a hassle. So he just hummed in response. 

Then, after a while, Han takes off his hat and props it up against the wall. Once he does that, he walks over to him. Not to his side though. He’s walking around him slowly. 

“How are your hands?” He asks him. Sasori’s eyes follow him as he makes his way to the other side of him. 

“Better. Still broken.” He answers. He mutters an _ah _as he stops on the other side of him. He looks at him, but not at his eyes. He scanning Sasori…looking him up and down. His fingers run down Sasori’s right arm. Lightly. 

“Do they hurt?” He asks another question. He looks back to Sasori’s eyes, but Sasori’s eyes were stuck on Han’s hand. He wasn’t threatened, just aware. Sasori looks back up.

“Only a little.” He says, a little below his normal speaking voice. They were staring at each other again. He came to learn that the majority of their interactions involved staring for lengthy periods of time. 

During that time, his hand ended up on Sasori’s. It was close to hovering, because he’s afraid to apply pressure to his injuries. They looked at each other, again, after Sasori took a quick second to look at the hand on his, and that’s when he started to feel something. 

His chest was doing something weird. It felt like it stopped for half a second, and then it resumed beating. But it started picking up pace. There was so much pressure building up in his chest that he felt it coming up his throat. He thought maybe he was nervous, but quickly disregarded it. He had felt nervous before, despite his limited emotional capacity. This was painful. It was uncomfortable, and it wasn’t a nice feeling. Due to his quickening breath, he deducted it as panic. He didn’t know why he was panicking, but he was. 

Han pulls down his mask, and Sasori can see him clearly now. 

His heart beats faster. He starts panicking more. 

Sasori starts pointing and flexing his feet because he was growing more anxious; the nerves getting to him. 

Han leans closer, and Sasori bites his lip and squeezes his eyelids shut. He feels Han’s hand, the one that was on his, move to his face, and he brushes Sasori’s bangs back. He felt his lips…brush his forehead, and he kisses it softly. Being gentle. Not what Sasori was expecting, he opens his eyes to see Han’s face is only mere centimeters away from his. He looks understandingly, and calmly at him.

“Relax. It’s okay.” He tells him as if he were a child. The deepness of his voice contradicted his kindness. Was this what people called a gentle giant? 

At the notion, despite him not liking the fact that he was speaking to him like a child, his heart rate slows down, and his breathing becomes steady. 

From kissing his forehead, he goes to his nose, then his lips, his neck, collarbone, below the breast, and then stops at his naval. With each kiss, Sasori sinks further down until he’s lying on his back. Han brings his face closer to his, and they, again, stare. 

With no warning, he grabs his jaw and smashes his lips with Sasori’s. And it wasn’t a peck like the first few. It was an actual kiss. 

Sasori’s eyes widened at the feeling, the action, everything, until he accepted the action and closed his eyes, giving in. He had never kissed anyone before, but once it happened, he felt so many emotions fill up inside of him at once. Excitement, fear, confusion, lust…his adrenaline was pumping. It left him…breathless. 

_Sasori was knocked out of his trance when he heard a high pitched whistling sound. He looked over to see Deidara with that stupid smirk on his face. Was…was he the one that whistled? When Deidara saw his senior’s oblivious look, his face flushed and he started laughing. Sasori remained oblivious, looking around to see why he was suddenly in a fit of laughter. _

_ “What’s so funny?” He asked, less annoyed and more curious. _

_ “Nothing, nothing!” He breathed. “It’s getting deep, my man. I may or may not be getting flustered, un!” Deidara wipes a few stray tears from his eyes. Sasori stared at the younger, unaware of what point in the story he had gotten to. _

_ “I see.” He manages to say. “I’ll stop there then.” Sasori began to pack up a few things, and stood up to walk to their stuff across the room. “You should get to sleep anyway. It’s late.” _

_ “What? No!” Deidara whined, jumping off the bed to catch up with Sasori. “You can’t stop there! That’s such a cliffhanger! You have to finish!” Sasori turned to face Deidara, who looked absolutely distraught._

_ “What else is there?” He asks him. “I already told you what happens. How could you call that a cliffhanger?”_

_ “Well, I mean-“_

_ “Exactly.” He scolded. “Now, go to bed Deidara. We leave tomorrow morning, and I don’t want you sleeping in.” Sasori turned away from him to start working on other things, and Deidara sulked in his place._

_ “Aw, and it was just getting good too!” He cried. Sasori ignored him. “You were getting so into it!” Sasori twitched, side-eyeing Deidara with a glare._

_ “I was not getting into it.”_

_ “You so were!” Deidara defended. He raised his voice to mock his partner. “Is this what you call a gentle giant? My first kiss left me breathless! And the way you described the kisses, BITCH! You’d think he was doing it to you right now!”_

_ “Enough!” Sasori shouted, undeniably embarrassed. “I won’t stand for this!”_

_ “Oh, come on, danna!” Deidara tried again. “I’m showing that I was listening!”_

_ “Yeah right.”_

_ “No seriously!” He took hold of Sasori’s arm, Sasori giving him a disapproving look in return. “Please, danna? Just finish the story. You’re already so far along!” Deidara did his puppy dog eyes again. Sasori turned away defiantly. No, not again. He will not be persuaded because of this again! He took one look to see if Deidara had given up and-gosh darn it fine! Deidara won again. Sasori really needed to step up his game._

_ “Fine. But don’t come crying to me in the morning saying that you’re tired.”_

_ “Deal!” Deidara sat his butt down right in front of Sasori, patting the space in front of him for Sasori to sit. He groaned, but sat down nonetheless. _

_ “Ok, where did I leave off?” He questioned, eyes rolling up as he tried to remember. _

_ “You were breathless.” Deidara said. “From the kiss.” Sasori froze._

_ “…did I really say that?” _

_ “You did, un.” He said whilst nodding. _

_ “…oh…wow, okay.” He clears his throat. “Anyway, so I was…breathless…as I put it previously. And, again, I was feeling a lot of emotions at that moment. So-“ Deidara shot his hand up in the air, catching Sasori off guard. He looked at him strangely before going, “Uh..yes?”_

_ “What was the kiss like? Was he good at it? Did you like it? Would you do it again?” He gradually got closer with each question, and Sasori had to actively push him away. _

_ “Uh…” Sasori was sensing the peer pressure. “Good? I would say he was good at it. Really good at it. It was a good, uh, first for me. I liked it, I mean, it felt nice.” He fumbled over his words, which humored the other._

_ “So would you do it again, or no?” He re-asked. Sasori thought about his answer this time before answering._

_ “If I were still human, and if he were still alive, yes. He was the first and only person I ever kissed. I feel like there’s some relevance to that.” _

_ “I see.” Deidara hums. “Anyway, what were you saying?” He was expecting him to continue now. He waited before continuing to see if he had any more random questions, but he stayed silent, so he continued. _

_ “So when we broke off, I…”_

Sasori didn’t know what to say. It was like he was caught in a spell or something. He hated himself for this, but he was sure it was because he was a stupid teenager who felt a thrill from being with someone over enemy lines. He didn’t expect it, but that was what made the thought so enthralling. 

“…phew.” Sasori whistled. Well, kind of. He never learned how to whistle, so it was just a puff of air that escaped his lips. Han, who’s looking down at him, smirks. 

“That good, huh?” He pressed, teasingly. His voice was low, and husky, and it sent a shiver down Sasori’s spine. More unsettling, he felt it _down there._ He felt all of the blood rushing down to his nether regions, and it scared him greatly. He was fifteen, he had never felt anything down there, besides when puberty hit, but it was a completely different experience. A weirder one too. 

So, once that chain reaction happened, he suddenly lost all of his knowledge about forming a proper sentence.

“I, uh, um…” He stuttered. 

“You’re cute.” He complimented. “I apologize for taking your first.” Was it really that obvious? Was he really reacting in such a way that it was _obvious_?! 

“No, no, you’re good. So good. Couldn’t have done it better myself.” He forced out in his flustered state. He cringed afterward though. He was never this idiotic around people, why was he now?! 

When he saw Han’s face after his mishap, he appeared really happy. Sasori was regretting his choice in words, and he was unable to look him directly in the eye, but he didn’t seem to mind. He chuckles.

“I still find it hard to believe that one of the war’s biggest threats is someone as cute as you.” He admits, earning a glare from the red-head for the first time in a while.

“Shut up. Flattery will get you nothing.” 

“Oh, really?” He inquires, coyly.

“Yeah!” He spits back at him, not having any of it. He decides to throw a jab at him. “You already took my shirt off, and I know you didn’t need to with the treatment that you were doing.” Han steps a little closer, closing the gap that somehow ended up between them.

“Yeah, well,” He removes all of his armor with ease, a feat Sasori can’t even imagine to accomplish in the amount of time that he did, and he climbs on top of him and pins him down. “I wanted to remove more than the shirt, but that’s not my decision to make.” Sasori stares up with wide eyes. The audacity of this Stone ninja was appalling. That was what he thought, but his body didn’t seem to agree. His throat was tight, his swallow audible, but with how close Han was it would be audible. A multitude of thoughts ran through his head, such as: He’s an enemy, a Jinchūriki, a MAN! And Sasori was fifteen, much too young from what he’s heard, a Sand ninja, his enemy, and also, a MAN. But then the other thing was absolutely not caring. 

With Sasori’s heart beating rapidly and his groin becoming stimulated, Sasori made a decision right then and there. He took a gulp and a breath and said…

“My hands are broken. Why don’t you take them off?” He said this as clear as day, making sure his choice was evident. Han didn’t say a word. Instead, his hands lowered down to hover over Sasori’s hips. And then, slipping his fingers under the waistband agonizingly slow, Sasori’s pants slid down and were removed at his ankles. He shivered. “Cold.” He thought. Han’s fingers dragged along Sasori’s calf, up his thigh, until he reached Sasori’s hips again. His hands lingered there, and Sasori couldn’t help but be tense. He moved his fingers in a massage like pattern, feeling up Sasori’s body. The back of the red-head’s throat made a sound (a whimper?), and he arched his back to the rhythm of Han’s hands. 

“You have such a petite frame.” Han commented, ogling the boy beneath him. “You’re muscles, however, are quite tender. Can you feel them?” He pressed down harder into Sasori’s skin, and he let out high-pitched moan. He couldn’t tell if it was from pain or pleasure. Maybe it was a little bit of both. Han hummed, approving of the sound. He arose to a straddle position, forcing Sasori to change his line of sight, and with one swift motion, removed his shirt to reveal the muscular body underneath. Sasori admired the well-defined curves, so desperately wanting to touch them, but alas, his hands could only do so much in the state that they’re in. Han took note of this. “Let me see your hands.” He calmly instructed, offering his hand. Sasori sat up gradually, and put his left hand delicately in Han’s right. He grasped it gently, and guided it to his abdomen. “You can roam.” He said, Sasori realizing that the small change in position didn’t bother his hands as much as he expected. “Do what makes you feel good.” Sasori was hesitant at first, but eventually, he worked up the nerve to touch him freely. 

His breath hitched. A human body was much more complex than the body of a puppet. Despite the anatomical knowledge he had, and how many puppets he created to replicate a human, he was still fascinated with the body before him. He felt no amount of fat on him; it was like he was pure muscle. It made him salivate.

Salivate? Sasori wiped his mouth aggressively, embarrassed by the way he was reacting. He didn’t try to hide how confused he was about his body’s reactions. It was almost automatic, something that Sasori couldn’t control. 

“You don’t have to restrict yourself.” Han nurtured the inexperienced Sasori whilst tilting his chin up. “I said you can do whatever you want.” 

“Whatever I want?” Sasori repeated to himself, though Han couldn’t hear him. Though his gaze was directed up into Han’s eyes, he gravitated to right in front of him. Han was elevated on his knees, and only an inch or so away from his face was the pelvic bone. And right in the center, well, he didn’t need an anatomy book to tell him what that body part was. 

Sasori stared at it for a while, his heart beat rising. It was intimidating, he could tell even with the heavy cloth covering it. Somehow though, he found himself drawn to it. Sasori was naked and fully erect at this point anyway, so he decided, “What do I got to lose?” 

He embraced the intense urge that he had and bit the waist of Han’s pants. It was more difficult to perform than he thought, and his performance in general had its faults, but he was able to pull them down successfully. Han was courteous enough to remove them entirely. He stared long and hard at the new exposed skin, and in a sloppy motion, took the semi-hard length into his mouth. He choked instantly, pulling back a bit. He felt the stretch in his jaw, and the corners of his lips tear. It hurt a bit…was this going to hurt him?

He pulled it out of his mouth, disappointed that he couldn’t fit even half of the thing in his mouth, but looked for a different approach. He settled for licking the sides like you would a popsicle or a lollipop. He heard a moan from the man he was sucking off, and that was just the proof he needed to continue. And this was easier on his mouth, so that was a plus.

He didn’t really like it. It just tasted like skin and sweat and it was warm; it made him want to gag. What he did enjoy was Han’s giant hands gripping his hair, the sounds of pleasure he made, and knowing that it was all because of Sasori. He wondered if receiving a blowjob was truly that indulgent and if he should try it, but before he could thoroughly decide, his head was roughly pushed back, leaving him at a loss for words, and no room to think for that matter. He awkwardly wiped his mouth with his forearm as he looked up at Han without blinking. Why’d he push him away? He thought he was doing pretty good for his first time. 

Without warning, Han pushed him down, catching Sasori off guard, and gave him no time to adjust as he bit at his collarbone. Sasori moaned instinctively, flinching at the sensation. 

“I guess my time’s over.” Sasori joked to himself as Han left multiple hickeys along his neck. After going all the way down, stopping right before his crotch, he looks up to Sasori, who’s breathing heavily and is starting to sweat from the contact. He looks at him with a serious look.

“Are you okay with this?” He asks. Sasori furrows his brows.

“Okay with what?” 

“This. All of this. If you don’t want to-“ Han was interrupted by Sasori’s loud groaning. Sasori looked him dead in the eyes, an irritated expression possessing his features.

“Listen, I’m not a very patient man. I don’t like to be kept waiting.” He leaned in closer. “Get on with it.” Han obliged with a nod of his head. Now he could see why this little boy was feared across nations.

Sasori watched as he put two fingers in his mouth. It was a weird sight; considering just how masculine of a man Han was, and watching him while he sucked on his fingers. It was almost enough to distract him from the feeling of the same fingers being pushed into his ass.

Key word being _almost._

“OW!” Sasori yelled, clenching every muscle in his body. Han stopped immediately.

“Sorry, did I hurt you?” He asked, concerned. Sasori shook his head defiantly, refusing to show any sort of displeasure. Due to his stubbornness, Han could only assume that he was hurting him. He removed one finger and immediately saw a difference. “Alright. I’ll start with one then.” Sasori just nodded, eyes closed to prevent seeing Han’s reaction to how he looked at the moment. With his face as scrunched up as it was, he couldn’t possibly look pretty. 

It was a really slow start. Han fingered him for a while, and every now and then would add another finger. Though it passed by slowly for Sasori, he could hardly pay any attention to it due to the new, but not unwanted feeling in the lower part of his body. He panted heavily, his face turned to the side, attempting to use his shoulder as a mouth gag. He doubt it worked; his voice could still be heard easily. 

After some time, Han pulled his fingers out, making Sasori twitch. Sasori looked up with glossy eyes to see Han holding his dick. He arranged it to be right in front of the entrance to his anal cavity. Sasori kept his breathing steady; mentally preparing for what was to come.

“This is your last chance.” Han told him. “Do you want to back out?”

“Not a chance, big guy.” He heard himself say with a light laugh. He was actually enjoying this? What a surprise. Han complied to his answer. Sasori braced himself. Before he knew it, he was fully inside him and it just felt…wrong. Not morally wrong; there was just something off about using an exit as an entrance. It seemed unnatural at first. Sasori moaned involuntarily, but not because it was really pleasant. Actually, at first, it started to burn, and Sasori begged for Han to take it out, fearful of what he got himself in to. He hadn’t even started moving and it was already hurting him. 

Han was sweet throughout the whole ordeal. He stroked Sasori’s cheek, wiping away stray tears, and allowed Sasori to calm down and get used to the feeling, knowing it was his first time. His touch soothed Sasori’s anxiety, his breathing slowed, and the water in his eyes fell and he could see the man on top of him clearly. 

“Are you good?” He softly asked him. Sasori nodded. “Ok.” He said. “I’m going to try moving. If it hurts, tell me.” Sasori nodded again. Keeping his word, Han started moving gradually. 

The feeling of it was still unnatural, but in a way, it was like it enhanced the experience. As Han picked up pace, Sasori found himself making noises that he didn’t even know he could make. The heat of their bodies conflicted with the chill of the air, Sasori’s bangs stuck to his face, slick with sweat. He felt dirty, his body was shaky, his ass started to hurt, and overall it was extremely overwhelming. 

Yet he felt a thrill. Somehow, he felt a connection with the man pounding into him, even though they recently met. Maybe it was because Sasori felt so vulnerable, but not taken advantage of. Maybe it was because he was close enough to touch, to embrace, to kiss, and there was nothing holding him back from doing so. 

Or maybe it was because he was making Sasori feel _so good_. He knew exactly where to hit to make Sasori plead for more and Sasori had never had such a craving to be fucked so hard. 

He was nearing his limit. Despite the pain in his hands, he latched on to the back of Han’s neck, grabbing at whatever he could as he screamed out a guttural moan as he ejaculated all over himself and Han. He fell back, going limp. It was as if his body had over exerted itself, or like he had become exhausted in a way that he had never felt before. Nothing compared to this. 

He felt Han nearing his limit too, or heard him, more less. In general, he lasted a lot longer than what Sasori did, but he had to give in to release at some point. He let out a moan much like Sasori had, and Sasori was suddenly filled with an unnatural warmth that made him quiver. 

Han’s body gave out and he collapsed on top of him. He was heavy, but Sasori didn’t mind. Skin on skin, their bodies pressed together, his pulsing heart, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed…it was a sensation he came to enjoy. 

They breathed against each other’s necks, completely out of breath. After minutes passed, the Jinchūriki mustered all the strength he had to push himself up so that he could look at the young puppet master. He was disheveled and barely awake. His hair stuck to his face in a sweaty mess, the corner’s of his mouth were torn, and red with irritation.

He was so beautiful.

He dove down for one last kiss; a meaningful one, passionate one. One worth remembering. 

When they separated, they stared longingly at each other. Han kissed his forehead.

“You should sleep now.” He whispered to him.

“But it’s cold.” Sasori whispered back, eyes already becoming heavy. Han hummed. 

“I can fix that.” He wrapped his arms around Sasori’s small body, lifting him carefully, and he shifted his weight so that Han was the one lying on his back and Sasori was lying on top of him. It took a minute of adjusting, but eventually Sasori found himself comfortable, and snuggled in closer.

“Why are you so warm?” He pondered. “Your temperature is almost inhuman.” Han stroked Sasori’s red locks, beginning to pet his head. 

“It’s human, I promise you.” He told him. “Now, get some sleep. You need the rest.” He ran his fingers through Sasori’s hair until he was fast asleep. And as soon as he was asleep, Han laid back and did the same. The two slept together during the storm until morning. 

When Sasori awoke the next morning, he saw the sun shining brightly, blinding him. He grunted, his eyes unable to adjust. Rubbing his eyes with his forearm, he felt around for the same warmth that he had felt the night before.

It was cold. 

Noticing the sudden change, Sasori shot up to see that Han wasn’t below him. He whipped his head around and saw that not only was he not below him, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. He thought maybe he was delusional at first, but then he took a look at his body.

He was fully clean everywhere. Yes, everywhere. Not a single mark was left from the night before. Without asking, no one would’ve even known that Sasori had had sex with the man.

He felt up his body; missing what was once there. He looked around, hoping to find some sort of sign that Han was still there, his armor or hat, but it was empty. In his solemn state, he glanced to the side and saw his clothes folded neatly. He picked up his shirt, the nerves in his hands screaming for him to stop. He looked at it with melancholy, and then brought it up to his nose hesitantly.

He threw it to the side when it didn’t smell like Han. 

He sat there naked on the floor remembering the night before. He had never felt anything like it before, and he missed it. He missed the touch, his voice, his body…what was this feeling?

He cradled himself to compensate for sudden burst of loneliness, and sat there thinking of what to do. As he looked around and concluded that there was nothing left for him there but the memories made, he begrudgingly threw his clothes on and exited the house. He took one last look at it before leaving, now being able to see how charming of a house it actually was. He turned his back on it though, and walked away without giving it a second glance.

…

“That it.” Deidara’s eyes fluttered open from their half lidded state to see that Sasori had stopped talking.

“..what?”

“That’s it. That’s the story.” Sasori waited patiently, surprisingly, for Deidara’s response. It took him a while to process.

“…WHAT?!” Deidara regained a lot of the energy he lost instantly. “That’s it?!”

“Yes.”

“So, you just left?! There’s nothing else after that? No, you met him again on the battlefield, or he ended up leaving you a message for you to read? Nothing?!”

“No.” Deidara slumped, visibly disappointed. 

“…well that’s kind of a let down, hm.” Sasori stood up, indicating the end of the story. The storm had died down a while back, the only thing left of it being the raindrops that dripped down the windows. 

“This was real life, not a fairytale.” Sasori told the upset blonde. “It’s over with now. Now go to bed. I have nothing more to tell you.” Deidara sulked as he stood. He dragged his feet walking to the bed, and threw the covers over him when he laid down. Sasori sat down in his previous spot and started working on his puppets again. He heard ruffling under the covers.

“…hey, Sasori-danna?” Deidara whispered over to him. 

“What, Deidara?” It was a moment of silence before Deidara worked up the guts to ask what he wanted.

“Have you ever thought that, maybe, if things had worked out a little differently, that, maybe, you and Han could’ve, you know, _had something?_” Sasori didn’t answer him right away. Deidara remained quiet in hopes that he would answer, but he wasn’t so sure that he would. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Deidara. What happened between us was a one night stand and nothing more. It was disgusting.” He answered. Deidara furrowed his brows at the answer, sitting up in his seat.

“What do you mean, hm?” He asked. Sasori put his puppet down more forcefully than what he usually does.

“Something like sex should be done with someone you’ve built up a trust with. It shouldn’t just happen because of a sudden lustful thought. You can’t just give away such things to someone you just met. You should love them, and something like love-“

“Should be eternal. Right, danna?” Sasori stopped talking. The two stared each other down until Sasori turned away with a sigh.

“Exactly.” He admitted quietly. “Han only saw me as a pretty face, and I…well, I don’t know what I was thinking. I was too young to know what I was doing. I shouldn’t have just _done that_ with him. But, it doesn’t matter. The point is, nothing would have come out of that. It would’ve been exactly the same. We would’ve went our separate ways and never see each other again. And that’s that.” 

“I don’t think so, hm.” Sasori turned at the comment, Deidara sitting upright and looking at Sasori calmly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He pressed. Deidara cocked his head, averting his eyes.

“Well, I might’ve not known Han personally, but we went on a few missions together, and everyone in the village knew how he was. And Han wasn’t the type of guy to just sleep around with whomever was available. He was quiet, kept to himself, and didn’t talk unless he needed to. He was a nice guy, of course, but he didn’t just reveal information about himself to just anyone. And actually, I don’t even think he had many partners before meeting you.”

“…what are you implying?” Sasori asked the teen.

“What I’m saying is, I don’t think Han slept with you just because of how you looked. He saw something in you, maybe even felt something for you. I think the only reason why he left is because he knew that you wouldn’t be safe with him, hm.” Deidara saw the look in Sasori’s eyes; he didn’t want to believe it, for better or worse. But, Deidara spoke his mind. In the story that Sasori told, Han spoke more to a complete stranger than he ever did to anyone in the village. That made him think that something was there, it was just left behind. And Deidara thought, from what he heard, that what was left there was like a lost toy to a child. Wanting to go back to retrieve it, but being prevented from doing so. 

He heard a soft, lackluster chuckle come from the human puppet. It wasn’t happy, or sad, but more so…regretful. 

“…I doubt what you said was true.” Sasori said softly, turning his head to face Deidara. A barely noticeable smile was directed at Deidara, and he felt a sudden emotion rise within him. “But, thank you.” Deidara smiled back, not as bright as he usually did it.

“No problem, hm.” 

“Alright, go to sleep, brat. I’ll wake you when it’s time to leave.”

“Alright, hm.” Deidara laid back down and pulled the covers up over his shoulders. Sasori turned around as well, and got back into the same schedule he always had: working on his puppets until dawn. Deidara went to sleep not long after.

The story Sasori told never left Deidara’s head, though it would never be brought up between them again. It almost made him feel guilty, maybe it made him feel pity for the puppet master, but he could never bring himself to speak about it. So, as far as he knew, Deidara was the only one he ever told about his encounter with the Stone’s Jinchūriki, and he was sure that Sasori was planning to keep it that way. It was a very personal story, after all. Controversial too. It would surely ruin Sasori’s reputation. But he couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if they hadn’t met on opposing sides in a war, with the villages having a different mindset on what was right and wrong. Because maybe then their lives would’ve went on differently. Perhaps Han wouldn’t be dead, and maybe Sasori would’ve thought about love in a different light. Whatever it might’ve been, it was in the past. All it was now was a memory, and he hoped that, for Sasori, it was a good one. 


End file.
